Negi, the Japanese spring onion

What it is

Negi is the Japanese name for Allium fistulosum (Welsh onion): a kind of onion that doesn't form a bulb, similar to a spring onion. It isn't a leek, even though the thickest white negi, like the one from Shimonita, looks like one, and that's why it's sometimes called "Japanese leek". But negi leaves are hollow tubes right to the tip, while leek leaves are flat and folded into a V. Onion in Japan is called tamanegi, "ball negi".

White or green

In Japan the varieties fall into three groups. The Senju and Kaga groups give white negi: as it grows, soil is piled up around it, so the white part gets longer and stays sheltered from cold and dry weather. The Kujo group, named after an area of Kyoto, gives green negi, which is eaten right to the tips of the leaves. That's why people say "white in the east, green in the west": around Tokyo white negi is the usual one, in Kyoto and Osaka the green. Today you can find both everywhere.

Where it comes from

It comes from western China or Siberia, where it has been grown for more than two thousand years. It reached Japan around the 8th century, and by the Heian period (794-1185) it was already grown almost everywhere.

In ramen

It's one of the simplest toppings: sliced into thin rings, raw, added at the end. In Kyoto many ramen shops use Kujo negi, and some give you a generous helping at no extra cost. Here negi is hard to find. The closest in taste is the spring onion: the green part instead of green negi, the white part instead of white negi. Leek is sweeter and less pungent.